Hard drives

[G.K.]

I've got quite an old setup but it runs FSX reasonably well in it's standard format. The addons are taking their toll though.

Before I upgrade to a new rig I thought I'd look at a seperate dedicated drive for FSX+addons.

Question 1:
Is the gain in performance worth it?

Question 2:
Mechanical drive or SSD?

[ozzy72]

If you add a newer drive with a higher speed you'll have to set that up as you master drive as otherwise you won't see the speed increase. SSDs are expensive and whilst quicker and more reliable it is probably worth looking at a new rig rather than wasting money on something that will get you only a very small gain in terms of performance.

[G.K.]

Thanks for that ozzy,
I was figuring a new rig would be the ultimate answer. My thinking was: If a seperate hard drive didn't give much benefit on the old rig I could then use it on a new rig, so hopefully no money wasted.

[ozzy72]

No problem, that is what I'm here for

[Steve M]

I think one advantage to having a separate drive or a partitioned drive is FSX won't fragment as fast. It's something I didn't do this time. I kind of wish I had, so when I defrag it doesn't take 6 hours. But I think Ozzie is right, it won't really improve much other than fragmentation.

[G.K.]

I might give it a go anyway, my old IDE hard drive is nearly full with just the OS, FSX and addons and I have 2 SATA sockets not being used.

If no gain then I can utilise the new hard drives in a new rig later in the year.

I'll let you know how I get on.